Out of the Equation: California courts educational failure if it does away with eighth-grade algebra.

by Ze’ev Wurman and Bill Evers | City Journal | 14 September 2012

A bill sitting on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk would upend 15 years of achievement in mathematics by California students. Sponsored by Oakland Democratic senator Loni Hancock, Senate Bill 1200 would consign the Golden State’s eighth-grade students to a weakened, one-size-fits-all, pre-algebra curriculum prescribed by the Common Core national standards. No longer would qualified California eighth-graders have the opportunity to take Algebra I, as do their peers in high-performing countries. SB 1200 is so wrongheaded, in fact, that it would prohibit schools from offering any options in mathematics, even to high school students. The bill insists that only “one set of standards” be offered at “each grade level” across the entire K–12 span. Click here to read more

Tuesday, April 17, on Gadfly Radio, ‎Bill Evers, fellow, research fellow
member of the k–12 education task force, and Brian Calle, Editor-in-Chief at CalWatchDog.com join Martha Montelongo, John Seiler, managing Editor at CalWatchDog.com, and Ben Boychuk, Associate Editor with City Journal on CRNtalk.com, CRN1. Tune in LIVE at 10:00 a.m. PDT on CRNtalk.com or on USTREAM TV’s CRNStudioLive!

Related Links:

Nationalizing Education Through National Defense?
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, Santa Ana, Calif
By Bill Evers
This month, the Council on Foreign Relations issued a report calling in the name of national security for national curriculum-content standards on science, civics, foreign languages, technology, creativity, and problem-solving – for elementary and secondary education. (Click here to read the article)

Scott Walker recall must be thwarted
Orange County Register Opinion
April 11th, 2012, by Brian Calle
The importance of thwarting the recall campaign against Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker can not be understated: The Wisconsin showdown arguably is the most consequential election in the country this year. And with the release of recent polling data showing the anti-Walker effort leading, the stakes have become even higher.

A Rasmussen poll released April 2 found that a “majority of Wisconsin voters now support the effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.” Fifty-two percent of likely voters polled said they would recall the governor, versus 47 percent wanting to keep Mr. Walker in office. While the election is still nearly two months away, those numbers are still discouraging. (click here to read more.)

Guns and Roses
Jerry Brown’s high-stakes tax proposal faces a political challenge—from the Left.
5 April 2012 by Ben Boychuk

Jerry Brown wants Californians to believe that the state, facing a current budget deficit of $9 billion, has a revenue problem. In fact, what the 30 million residents of the Golden State have is an entitlement problem. From health care to state and local public-employee retirement benefits, Californians face as much as $500 billion in unfunded liabilities for pensions alone. The state’s unfunded health-care liabilities top $62 billion. Brown’s new budget actually proposes a 7 percent increase in spending, though it offers to cut some services. All of the governor’s plans assume that substantial, voter-approved tax hikes will provide billions in new revenue, helping to pay for the extra spending and shrinking the deficit. “I’m promising wine and roses,” he told reporters after a speech last month, “but not in 2012.” (Click here to read more)

July 5, 2011 Tonight live at 8PM PT:Bill Evers, a formidable specialist in CA Education Policy, along with fellow education policy expert and commentator, Ben Boychuk on the precarious condition and peril of Charter Schools in CA. What are these ominous bills, including AB 114 and AB 440 and SB 645.

Here’s a comprehensive webinar put together by The Charter Schools Development Center, breaking down SB 645’s proposed changes to current Charter School law in CA, and the severe impact these changes bode for the survival of Charter Schools in CA.

We’ll also look at AB 86 by Tony Mendoza, which as currently amended would require at least half of all teachers and classified employees (i.e., non-teaching staff) to sign off on any petition to convert a school to a charter. (This is somewhat related to the Parent Trigger.) And as Boy Boychuk puts it, “speaking of the Parent Trigger (and in keeping with the rule of three), there remains the threat of AB 203, which could very well lock the trigger by giving districts more power to deny petitions, etc.”

Next Tuesday, July 12, Craig Huey squares off against sitting L.A. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn in the special run off election to replace Jane Harman in the 36th Congressional District. The fact that Craig Huey is in this two-top-vote-getters race defies conventional wisdom about what is possible, even in a district that is as solid blue as this one. Is it his message, his outreach, and are old and tired campaign strategies working for Janice Hahn, a poster child of Los Angeles political machine politics?

Mike Shaner, is an entrepreneur who is passionate about winning hearts and minds over to stand for liberty and stand up against the ever expanding size and power of government. He’s got a very popular blog and he’s active on FB too. He’s a transplant from Alabama and lives in Oak Park, CA, thus the name of his blog, The Oak Park Republic. He’s a convert from the left, to the far right, to libertarian policy. We’ll talk with Mike tonight about his first full op-ed ever published on Lew Rockwell, called A Tale of Two Elections: Historic or Unimportant. He’s passionate and thoughtful. We’ll get a taste of his talent tonight.

We’ll take your calls, questions and comments on the air at 1-818-602-4929.

I am a stand for liberty, freedom and prosperity for all people; a stand for vibrant and innovative small businesses that create jobs, that in the process of prospering, nurture and support creative and dynamic culture, in the work place, and in our personal lives. Thank you for supporting our enterprise, by listening, sponsoring, and or sharing this newsletter with others. I value your patronage. It’s a pleasure to share this program with CalWatchDog’s team of government watch dogs and the great investigative work they produce!Tuesday nights live, on Gadfly Radio in Southern California or where ever you are. California, the land of beauty and unlimited possibility because of the abundance of our greatest capital resource, our human resources, when we get it right. Join us.

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The status quo of education in the U.S. is destructive to our Nation, and to ignore this truth is to be numb, unconscious or in denial of reality.

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament."--A Nation At Risk - April 1983

Drug War Clock for Current Year

Police arrested an estimated 858,408 persons for cannabis violations in 2009. Of those charged with cannabis violations, approximately 89 percent were charged with possession only.
Source: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation Your tax dollars at work--but for whom?

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